


Tumblr Prompts

by Chipper_Daily



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Child Neglect, Codependency, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Relationship, The Resisty Resisting Against the Irken Empire (Invader Zim), Tumblr Prompt, Underage Smoking, ZADE
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:22:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29144403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chipper_Daily/pseuds/Chipper_Daily
Summary: Exactly what it says on the tin. A collection of short & (debatably) sweet one-shots. Each chapter title will be the prompt.
Relationships: Dib/Zim (Invader Zim)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 41





	1. Sunbathing

Uncannily sharp brown eyes snapped to meet his as the human boy plucked the nasty smelling burning stick from between his lips and flicked the ash over the edge of the hi skool roof with practiced ease.

“What are _you_ doing here?” Dib scowled as Zim carelessly kicked the heavy door shut behind him, the dusty gravel of the rooftop crunching beneath his meticulously polished boots as the exiled Invader took his usual place at the side of his nemesis. 

“Sunbathing.” The petite Irken sniffed dismissively, as though both the human and his nosey questions were beneath his notice. Dib rolled his eyes with a snort, but Zim continued before the human had a chance to point out the alien’s usual neck-to-toe covering uniform and the grey, overcast sky. “What is the Dib doing here?” 

“What are any of us doing here.” The human groused, low and bitter, as his gaze dulled and turned away to narrow down at the parking lot far below. He took another slow, thoughtful drag on his cigarette while Zim curled his lip at the disgusting habit. 

“Graduating, last I checked.” Zim arched a skeptical brow as Dib pulled his cigarette away with a pinched grimace. He released his held breath in a thin cloud of pale smoke between his lips, and Zim tore his gaze away from the human’s mouth with a jolt beneath his ribs. The Irken’s brow furrowed, and he crossed his arms over his chest as a strange, jittery sort of guilt followed in the fluttering jolt’s wake. 

“You know, life on this planet peaked during the cretaceous crab revolution.” Dib drawled dryly as Zim turned to fix the human boy with a baffled look. Dib’s lips twitched into a frown, his gaze absorbed with watching his cigarette smoulder between his calloused fingers. “It’s like everything just decided to become a crab at that point. Peak design. The rest of us should have crawled back into the ocean and followed suit. This terrestrial life thing is so needlessly complicated.”

“I can’t tell if you’re joking.” Zim arched a brow as he turned to sit on the edge of the roof. “But you’re not wrong.” The Dib chose to take another drag on his cigarette instead of responding. Zim’s gaze shifted to the sky as he idly kicked his heels against the gravel, the grey clouds churning slowly above them as the classmates neither of them cared for or cared about them said their goodbyes and made promises they’d never keep beneath them. 

“Dad texted me. Said he couldn’t make it. He has a meeting.” Dib’s tone was flat even as his eyes narrowed venomously. He ran his tongue across his teeth, the tongue piercing his father never noticed clicking softly against his teeth. Just like his ear, lip, and eyebrow piercings, and the ugly, smelly, smoking habit had similarly gone unnoticed. “Like he’s not _always_ in _meetings_.” The human boy spat as he brought his smoke to his lips. It was a long moment before Dib finished, his tone low and hollow with a bitter acceptance. “He promised he’ll buy me a new phone to make up for it, and he’ll _definitely_ be there when I graduate university.” His tone curdled into a sneer. “Cuz it’s not like graduating high school is that important in the grand scheme of things anyway, and you can’t take a day off from _saving the world_ , I guess.” 

Zim didn’t respond. He just watched the clouds, heavy with the promise of a storm that wasn’t ready to break just yet. He... didn’t really understand the nuances of a parent-child relationship, as the Dib had said before, it seemed needlessly complicated as far as Zim was concerned. But he did understand how it felt to be abandoned and the desperation to be affirmed, validated, _noticed_. Where Zim had destroyed planets and torn apart armies, his human had poked holes in his face and started poisoning his lungs. (Where Zim aimed the desire to shatter, and scream, and destroy outward, his Dib levelled the same urges inward.) 

He was abruptly drawn from his thoughts when his human stepped lightly up to stand on the ledge, and sharp panic spiked beneath Zim’s ribs as he flexed his claws against the mouldering cement.

“You know if you do anything stupid, I’m going to stitch you back together in my lab and make you regret ever being born, earth-stink.” Zim hissed, his eyes wide and intense in the grey light. 

“Calm down, I’m not doing anything stupid, space-boy.” Dib hummed mildly as he crossed his arms. “It all seems so small when you’re looking down on it like this.” He puffed on his cigarette before turning that penetrating gaze down to his age-old rival and quirking a playful eyebrow. “So what are you going to do now, lizard?” 

“I don’t know,” Zim answered plainly as he searched that familiar face. There was something... right about the way the grey clouds framed the earth boy’s face. Zim’s human was every inch a tragedy- made for the stars, yet stuck in the mud with the rest of his dull-eyed idiot species. “How about you, worm-child?”

“I don’t know.” Dib sighed and turned his gaze back to his cigarette, evaluating the cinder and ash as though he could find his answer there somehow. “University? Maybe? Honestly, I didn’t think I’d make it this far.”

Zim didn’t dare say it because whatever they were, it wasn’t some topical, fleeting, fickle, human concept of “friends,” but he was glad Dib had. He didn’t know what he would do if Dib hadn’t. (And maybe some part of Zim had never thought he’d make it to graduating human hi skool either.)

“We’ll figure something out.” Zim said with a shrug instead as his gaze slipped back to watch the clouds, and for the first time in a long time, looking up at the sky didn’t make him feel homesick. “We always do.”

“We, huh?” Dib breathed without taking his gaze away from the cigarette burning in his hands. Something close to a smile tugged at the corner of his lip as his expression softened. “I really need to give this shit up.” He mused as he watched the smoke curl into the sky. He paused for a beat before scoffing softly and bringing the cigarette to his lips once again. “Not today, though.” 


	2. Total Control

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the lovely lestat_akemi :3

Uncannily sharp brown eyes snapped to meet his, defiant and wary, as the door hissed shut behind him.

“Hello, _Dib._ ” Zim purred in the dim, magenta light, his playful tone curling between the two sworn enemies like oily smoke. Heavy with the depth of their shared past, the weight of spilled blood, brooding obsession, and promises of violence that tied the two together tighter than a noose. The usual opener to their cruel games, established through years of pain and fury. Zim didn’t even try to hide his wicked grin when Dib’s brow furrowed in response, unable to respond more than that, those brown eyes burning with bitter, futile hate as dark delight blossomed beneath Zim’s ribs. 

He glided across the tile floor, as smug as the cat who’d gotten the cream as the Irken drifted around the back of the simple wooden chair he’d tied his nemesis to, idly tracing his fingertips along the human’s broad shoulders just to feel how tense he was. Then he was playfully twirling on his heel to face his bitter rival. He leaned back against the table he’d set before the bound nuisance, with all of Zim’s favourite toys laid out in a neat row, all freshly sharpened and gleaming with a cold, sanitized promise of artful violence for the Dib-worm to contemplate while awaiting Zim’s arrival. 

Zim pressed his gloved palms against the table and tilted his head back to eye his most favourite toy of all. His trophy. His Dib remained defiant, even when brutally defeated and laid low, bound and gagged, much to Zim’s delight. Life would be terribly boring otherwise. 

The fear that unmistakably swam beneath the bold, burning rage in those honey-brown eyes was even sweeter. 

Zim’s lips cracked into a coy, playful grin as he leaned further back still, shifting his weight from his feet to the hands braced on the table, and he lifted one leg to teasingly poke the toe of his boot into the center of the human’s chest. His grin widened as he drank in the Dib’s face, helpless, utterly helpless, as he pushed until the front legs of the chair tilted up off the floor. It was only a matter of time before gravity took over. The Dib’s eyes popped wide as the chair lurched back, and he hit the floor with a crash and a muffled cry. 

Zim cackled, giddy with the totality of his victory, as he lightly hopped down from the table and firmly planted his boots on either side of the human’s bound arms and dropped down to sit on his chest, earning another muffled grunt. He gripped his enemy’s jaw and thoughtfully tilted his head to the side, then back, silently admiring the silver strip of duct tape across his mouth as Dib narrowed his eyes in futile, poisonous fury. His dark stubble felt rough against Zim’s hand, even through his glove. 

“A gag suits you, earth-boy.” Zim chirped mildly as he raised a teasing eyebrow down at his bound nemesis. “We should have done this years ago.” His grin widened. “I think I’m going to kill you today.” He mused, as though they were discussing the weather. “I’m going to cut you open like you always promised you would do to Zim.” The petite Invader licked his lip in anticipation as he leaned down into the human’s space, near enough their foreheads were almost touching as his voice dipped to a whisper. “How many organs do you think you can have removed before you die, Dib-stink?” Zim lightly dragged a wicked, curved claw down the length of the human’s torso over the top of his grime-encrusted blue t-shirt. “What was it you said to me, back on that first day of skool?” Zim teased softly, his pink-tinted teeth flashing in the dim magenta light. “Perhaps they’ll name your autopsy video after _me._ ” He pulled away to eye his prize and shrugged. “Not that anyone cares what the ugly insides of the last wretched human looks like.” 

Zim eyed the human beneath him for a moment before his lips twitched into a frown. As much as he enjoyed the silence that came with gagging the human, it just wasn’t the same without their usual banter. 

Zim didn’t bat an eyelid as he pinched the corner of the duct tape and promptly tore it off of Dib’s face, ripping a sharp cry from the human’s lips. 

“You may beg your master for your worthless life.” Zim stated flatly as he watched Dib sputter and cough beneath him. 

“I don’t have to,” The human’s voice was rough, but he still unflinchingly met Zim’s eyes. “We both know you’re not going to kill me.” 

Zim’s cheek twitched with the abrupt reminder of why he gagged the infuriating creature in the first place.

“How are you going to stop me, Dib- _worm?_ ” Zim hissed as he wrapped a hand around the human’s throat. “I defeated you and the miserable waste of dirt you called a planet, and by the Irken rules of war that makes you _mine._ I _own_ you. I own _every part_ of you. Every breath you take, every beat of your primitive heart, every drop of blood in your inferior veins, and every idiotic thought in your stupid brain is _mine_ to do with as I _please._ The Dib _belongs_ to Zim, I can end your miserable life on a _whim_ , and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Come on, space-boy, you’re not this stupid.” Dib’s eyes narrowed as he evenly met Zim’s burning gaze. “Just _think_ for a second, when was the last time your Tallests contacted you? When was the last time _anyone_ contacted you? You’re just as much of a prisoner here as I am.” 

All trace of teasing evaporated as Zim bared his teeth and squeezed his human’s throat until Dib winced. One PAK leg arched gracefully over Zim’s shoulder to hover menacingly over the human’s head. 

“ _Liar."_ Zim spat, low and deadly in the dim light as a cold weight he desperately tried to ignore squirmed in the pit of his guts. 

“I’m not lying, and you know it.” Dib managed to grit out, his rasping voice barely a whisper, yet each word cut into Zim deeper than the human could have ever hoped to with a blade. “If you kill me, you’ll have no one. You _need_ me.”

“I don’t need you.” Zim’s PAK leg inched down to press against his human’s forehead, but the Dib didn’t flinch, and something like fear flickered beneath Zim’s ribs. “I don’t need you.” His voice was stronger, even though his hand around the human’s neck felt weaker, and his PAK leg pressed deep enough against that soft skin that red beaded around the wicked tip. “I don’t need you.” Zim spat, his eyes squeezed shut as he hunched over his prize. (He’d _earned_ this, through blood and tears, this was supposed to be his victory, it wasn’t supposed to be like _this-_ ) He willed the steel leg to puncture- to force through bone and tissue, the sensation as familiar as breathing to an Irken soldier- to end the wretched boy that had ruined Zim’s life. Yet his body didn’t obey his command, his limbs frozen. 

“ _I don’t-”_ Zim choked, his voice small, hushed, desperate, as though there was a crushing grip around his throat as well.


	3. Trembling Hands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why yes, I'm still picking away at these when I have time ^^;;

Dib’s eyebrow twitched, and he silently prayed that the tiny involuntary movement wouldn’t count towards the FREEZE command and get him riddled with more holes than the ratty cotton pyjama pants he’d left back on their ship. The twitch dislodged a cold drop of sweat, and Dib gritted his teeth, hyper-aware of its path as it ran down the side of his face to get caught in his rough three-day stubble. He was also hyper-aware of the way his hands trembled slightly, held aloft at the command of the motley alien crew that currently surrounded them, holding the mismatched duo at gunpoint. 

He silently promised himself, not for the first time since leaving Earth, that if they survived this mess, he was going to punt Zim out of the airlock.

“He’s _literally_ wearing an Invader uniform right now, how do you explain that?” The exasperated grey Vortain Dib assumed was the captain gestured pointedly at the petite Irken pressed back-to-back against Dib. Who, for his part, appeared completely unbothered by their current predicament, perhaps even a tad bored. Like being surrounded by the business end of five blasters was an everyday occurrence. Then again, knowing Zim as well as Dib did, it wasn’t outside of the realm of reason to assume it had been before his Earthen exile. 

“Because he’s an idiot.” Dib replied flatly. He felt Zim’s antennas rustle against the back of his signature coat as they bolted up in offence.

“Because I AM an Invader!” Zim spat indignantly as he twisted to shoot a scowl around Dib’s torso. “I’m just not on active duty right now.”

“Oh. My. _God,_ Zim. Do you WANT to die?” Dib squeezed his eyes shut with a grimace. So much for any hope of talking their way out of this one.

“Do you have any idea how hard it is to pass the Invader testing? I _earned_ this uniform!” 

“Congratulations, space-boy, you’ve made me believe in an afterlife.” Dib’s eyes snapped open as he craned his neck back as far as he could to meet his petite partner’s frown with one of his own. “If you get us both killed here, I have to believe there’s some plane of existence where I can kick your ass for it.”

“As if there’s _any_ reality where the Dib-worm could possibly defeat the incredible Zim.”

“There totally was. We were both there. He tried to destroy _your_ stupid Armada and _my_ stupid reality, remember?”

“Lies!”

“Do you both have some sort of idiot-mouth-disease that makes it so you can’t stop talking?” Both Zim and Dib stopped mid-argument and turned to meet the grey Vortian’s flat stare.

“Hey! I-” Dib abruptly swallowed the rest of his objection as the Vortian pointed his blaster directly up at his face and flicked the charge to active, a high pitch whine piercing the not-as-abandoned-as-they'd-hoped space station's recycled air.

“Stop. Talking.” The Vortian grit out, while an absent part of Dib wondered why the Vortian sounded British. “I don’t think you understand your position here; You’re both prisoners of the Resisty. This Invader _slime_ is going straight to the interrogation cell, and he’s going to spill all of his revolting Irken secrets-”

“We already told you, he’s an _exile._ What ‘secrets’ are you seriously expecting to get?” Dib interjected, only to bite his tongue as the Vortian pressed closer with the muzzle of his blaster.

“ _Secret_ secrets! And what part of _shut up_ is so hard for you to understand?!” The Vortian’s exasperated voice cracked as he bared his surprisingly sharp teeth up at the human. He narrowed his eyes behind his goggles and pinched his mouth into a frown as he regained his composure, his voice dropping dangerously as a chill ran up Dib’s spine. “I’d watch my mouth if I were you, Irken _sympathizer,_ considering you’re the most _expendable_ one here-” 

Dib didn’t hear if the Vortian had anything else to say. The world around him seemed to slow as he felt the almost unnoticeable brush of Zim’s antennas against the back of his coat as they pressed dangerously flat against the Irken’s scalp. He shifted slightly away from Dib’s back with the soft but unmistakable click of his PAK panels popping open. 

Dib had a half-second moment of crystal clarity to think, _‘ah, so this is the point where communications break down.’_

If they survive, Dib will probably even feel flattered that Zim didn’t seem to agree with the Vortian’s assessment of Dib’s expendability. 

**Author's Note:**

> These are from this [prompt list](https://chipper-daily.tumblr.com/post/641325575759429632/send-me-a-number-and-ill-write-a-micro-story) over on tumblr, feel free to drop a prompt if you'd like! I'm slow, but I am working my way through them XD I'm putting these in one place so I can find them again, thank you so much to everyone who submitted a prompt, I'm sending love to all of you
> 
> And, as always, thank you for reading & have a lovely day (~˘▾˘)~


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